#advice

500 call or 400 puts? =D

Any tips on making our daily commute to Tuas more pleasant? I don’t know what to expect

Most of you are doing it wrong.No need to do your work. Just join all the LinkedIn activities and get your picture taken. Always the same people there and they never get cut.

One more time-no need to do work. Just join all the useless events

I’ve been asked to interview for a role in Europe, anybody have insight?

Question for anyone that was recently laid off. The Severance agreement states that we will be automatically enrolled in our current health benefit plans on September 1st but I also received a letter stating that I need to select a COBRA plan by November 1st? I tried calling but got someone that didn't seem to know what they were talking about and just advised me to login and pick a plan. I have been on a grandfathered health plan for years and don't want to mess anything up. Any advice out there?

I think it’s about time to employ these “small” business losers and run it like a real insurance company

Question for anyone that was recently laid off. The Severance agreement states that we will be automatically enrolled in our current health benefit plans on September 1st but I also received a letter stating that I need to select a COBRA plan by November 1st? I tried calling but got someone that didn't seem to know what they were talking about and just advised me to login and pick a plan. I have been on a grandfathered health plan for years and don't want to mess anything up. Any advice out there?

Source: M. Gray

1. Learn Storytelling

Storytelling is the highest intangible ROI skill you can learn

Sales, hiring, marketing, it's all storytelling.

Start with basic storytelling frameworks (e.g. the Hero's Journey) and the 7 fundamental emotions.

And watch how listeners turn into believers.

1. Rethink Health

Everything changed for me when I came across Symbiotic Success:

Your health directly affects achievement, even if you can't see it.

Now I prioritize meditation, lifting weights and nutrition.

Success is a game of longevity and health is your competitive moat.

1. Work Like a Lion

Society has conditioned us to work like we're cows grazing.

Low focus.
Long hours.
Minimal output.

Instead, work less, but work like a hunting lion.

Sprint. Rest. Repeat.

1. Find Your Peak Energy State

Optimal hours, environment, and work style differ for everyone.

Keep experimenting until you find your most productive state, when you don't have to fight yourself to get stuff done.

Once you find it, energy flows where your focus will be.

1. Learn to Communicate Concisely

Most people's emails and messages are full of fluff:

'Hope you're well!'
'I just wanted to ask...'
'Could we circle back on...'

Stop.

Be concise and get to the point, your value increases with the effort your readers save.

1. Be Happy for Other People's Successes

It's a positive-sum world out there; there are 22 million millionaires in the US alone.

Recognize that one person's success isn't your failure and offer genuine congratulations.

Joy for others manifests future accolades for you.

1. Be Boring

A lot of success comes from just saying no to cheap dopamine.

And instead, focusing on the mundane:

• Maximizing sleep
• Guarding time for workouts
• Not eating out in favor of your nutritious diet

Boring's the secret the successful don’t want you to know.

WTF? Can anybody post your state, the job titles and areas? TIA for any useful info.

I recently finished a second round interview, but I'm also aware of the ongoing layoffs and such. Thoughts?

Every time I go to the BTC I get sick. What am I doing wrong? Are there certain foods I need to avoid?

Genuine question: I joined within the last year and recently interacted with a DE, but honestly didn’t understand much of what they were saying. Do DEs typically write code and have a good understanding of the systems they work with?

Can someone please explain to me the Horizon Challenge? Is this a new concept or a fancy name for an old problem? Thanks for any insights.

Maybe not such a bad person at heart after all….

Forget engineering and join legal. It's dynamic and creative, they are busy but well compensated. Cisco has developed this competency like no other company and this tells you a lot about the direction of the company - extract and protect is the mantra nowadays. Lawyers are not better than engineers, but here at Cisco they can thrive just because that's the game nowadays.

These are growing in number, so I just thought to warn other people who're as desperate to leave as I am. Be careful of recruiters reaching out on LinkedIn, and if a job looks too good, it probably is. Check the name, the phone number, and the company. Sadly, times like these attract many predators.

After successfully passing my PIP and last meeting with my manager yesterday. Today IBM sent me a termination letter. No severance. Nothing. Just take your stuff and bye.
My advice your you guys. Do not trust any manager at IBM.

Curious to what people have done to successfully find employment elsewhere. Does LinkedIn really work? I see a lot of job postings on there, but also lots of applicants. Are recruiter/head hunters still the best route? What has worked and what hasn't. Thanks in advance and hope for helpful responses.

If there are rumors that layoffs may happen on September 2nd, they may happen that day, but the timing could also be different, such as August 31st or September 1st. We saw a similar situation last year. Unfortunately, there are some things we simply cannot control.

If you’re concerned about your position, make sure your work and contributions are visible. Touch base with your VP, communicate what you’ve been working on, share your accomplishments, discuss any concerns, and ask where you can take on additional work. During a restructuring, decisions can be difficult and sometimes are outside your manager’s control, so make sure your contributions are known at the leadership level.

If you suddenly receive a 1:1 meeting invitation or an early morning email, try not to panic. Take a breath and focus on the practical steps. If you are affected, understand your WARN period, severance, benefits, and healthcare options. If applicable, plan ahead for Covered California coverage when your employer coverage ends. Verify the exact dates and benefits with HR before making any decisions.

Most importantly, don’t let the uncertainty consume you or affect your family. Keep your routine: log in and do your work, continue applying for jobs with an updated resume, learn something new, exercise or take a walk, spend time with your family, have dinner, and watch a movie. Keeping a normal routine can help you stay grounded.

Blaming your manager, director, or Oracle may feel natural, but it won’t change the outcome and will only drain your energy. If a layoff happens, focus on what you can control: understand your severance and benefits, arrange healthcare coverage, update your resume, build new skills, take courses, network, and start interviewing.

You will find another opportunity. It may take some time, but keep moving forward. And if you genuinely want to return to Oracle someday, that option may still be there.

There are things we cannot control. Organizational decisions don’t define our value or our careers. A layoff is an event, not a reflection of your worth or abilities.

Take care of yourself, protect your mental health, and take it one day at a time. You’ll get through this. ❤️

Dear Shell employees, please l will like to get some advice from current and former Shell employees. Shell has been my dream company to work for and l am thinking of pursuing a career with Shell. Please any advice whether it’s a good choice based on the constant layoffs l have been hearing from this site?

What would happen if we all send an email to directly Arvind requesting more salary instead of RAs?

Could we get fired immediately?

AEP (Annual Enrollment Program) is only approximately 5 weeks away.

So, to all my social media persons, start now convincing folks that Traditional Medicare is a much better option, especially if they have some catastrophic event and don’t want to have their expensively health claims denied.

This AEP, let’s destroy this corrupt corporation’s membership growth.

Some of the replies here really make me feel uneasy. If I hated a place as much as some of you do AEP, I'd be long gone. Life is too short to stay somewhere that's making you so miserable. You know that's an option, right? Walk away and find something where you'll be happier. It's that simple.

Don't fall for that VIP trip to wherever they want to send you ...I almost did🧐

There are two types of leaders. The confident ones hire the best minds around them, people who'll challenge them and give honest advice. The insecure ones hire yes-men. The second kind is running this company straight into the ground, and they're getting rich doing it.

Hard work and skill won't get you ahead. Flatter your boss and trash-talk the competition. That's the winning combination.

Don't expect the company to care. It never will.

Please start preparing yourselves. It will not be small and it will not be pretty. Plus, with the job market being what it is, you need to start looking sooner rather than later to have any chance of landing something. Just a few words of advice from an old-timer who's been through an acquisition or two and knows how it goes.

I haven't discussed this with my manager yet so would be grateful for input or info anyone has on policy. Here's my situation:

• I work East Coast hours from West Coast (CA)
• I have worked 6am (and sometimes 5am) to 8am from home, then train into the office (I don't own a car...takes about 40 minutes each way).
• I do not work with anyone else in my office...I spend my day on Teams meetings or doing my work.
• I go home at 2pm or 3pm, depending when I started in the morning.

Am I now supposed to haul my bu†† downtown at 4:15am to get my 8 hours in the office? The trains don't even run then! I'm not buying a car just to satisfy this. Honestly, the absurdity of all this is what bothers me the most.

Right now, I'm planning to my boss that he's going to lose access to my work and contacting me until 9am Pacific time. Many of my team and project-related calls fall before that time, so they can either allow me to continue working the way I do or lose my participation in various routines, ability to answer questions and fix stuff...I'm stumped.

For anyone looking for an excellent employment attorney - https://www.kdh-law.com/
Anne Schiavone represented me against another company and yes, we won! Her firm practices on STL although they are located in KC. I highly recommend. I have been in touch with her recently and she appreciates the referral!

1. Nix big meetings

Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get rid of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short.

1. Ditch frequent meetings too

Get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved.

Leave a meeting if you’re not contributing

Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.

1. Drop jargon

Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function.

1. Communicate directly, irrespective of hierarchy

Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the ‘chain of command’. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere.

A major source of issues is poor communication between departments. The way to solve this is allow free flow of information between all levels. If, in order to get something done between depts, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a VP, who talks to another VP, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks to someone doing the actual work, then super d-mb things will happen. It must be ok for people to talk directly and just make the right thing happen.

1. Follow logic, not rules

In general, always pick common sense as your guide. If following a ‘company rule’ is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change.

Do we get the 401(k) match if we quit?

Thoughts? They’re in the transition, why not? Shift a bit of sakes sales.
Less risk and guaranteed a cut for Senior Leadership.

Funny how when I was giving my supervisor advice on crypto and trading strategies we were the best of friends the second money stopped coming in my audits picked up and that “friendship” faded and I was switched off the current team

I am seasoned advisor I wasted my time with their VIP event. Feed you a cheap meal give you a one day sales pitch then join us and we will FEE you for everything thing you sell ! NO THANKS you ever heard no such thing as a free lunch. Do your home work first!

I’m just gonna put this right here. Nike HR and Legal are there to protect the company. You can file a complaint through the EEOC and BOLI but completely separate you can sue your manager. Nike wants you to give up and give in. They want you to believe that what they are doing is ok. Keep solid documentation and take care of yourself! You are not defined by the swoosh or the toxic leadership.

Under ORS 659A, individual supervisors and managers can be held personally liable for discrimination, retaliation, or creating/allowing a hostile work environment — not just the company.

why isn't there a 20 minute AI summary? Isn't that what y-all are supposed to be donig now?

They hire smart people, put them in roles they're not qualified for, and wonder why nothing works. That's PepsiCo for you.

What is the purpose of their job? Track token usage and scold us if we use too much or not enough?

Any convenience reps here? Accepted a convenience sales rep role and would love to hear from someone with direct experience what I’m getting myself into